I'm glad that I don't gamble on sports or the weather, because I'm now "oh for three" for my Winter Series predictions. I couldn't predict a winner in the first event but I guaranteed that the December race would provide the best weather. Mother Nature is a cruel mistress as she provided 3 more degrees of warmth for a high of 49. You can't ask for better racing weather.

The crowd at the start line was in great spirits when the gun went off and once again they chased Jason Pyles from start to finish. Pyles easily caught his breath before 2nd place Robert Smith finish exactly one minute later.

Pyles leads the series adding an 8k time of 26:04 to his cumulative time. He leads the 2nd place series leader Brandon Harless by almost four minutes going into the last event. Eric Martin rounded out the top three men with a 27:31.

Warm winter smiles.

Allison Cox and Leslie Thomas paced each other to the finish with Cox barely out kicking Thomas at the finish with times of 31:54 and 31:55, respectively. Acie Hylton with a 32:01 was the third female to cross the line.

The closest race of the series is in the 50-59 female group with less than 41 second separating Joni Adams, Roxane Carte and Connie Young. Anyone could take the series with a strong finish in the 10K. The youngest males also have a close race with bare chested Seth Miller leading Noah Toops by a minute and eight seconds.

I will not be making any more predictions other than to say that there aren't too many better ways to spend a Sunday afternoon if you love to run.

The Winter Series is a joint effort by Charleston City Parks and the Tallman Track Club (tallmantrackclub.com).